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Acute headache attributed to whiplash in arcuate foramen and non-arcuate foramen subjects
Luis Ríos1,2, Federico Mata-Escolano3,4, Esther Blanco-Pérez5
1Paleoanthropology Group, National Museum of Natural Sciences-Spanish National Research Council, Madrid, Spain.
Purpose:
To test the association between arcuate foramen (AF) in the first cervical vertebra with acute headache attributed to whiplash.
Methods:
Retrospective study of 128 patients that suffered a whiplash. The presence or absence of AF was recorded after a radiographic study, as well as the presence or absence of acute headache after the whiplash.
Results:
The frequency of AF was 17.2%. Patients with bilateral AF presented a significant (p = 0.000, Fisher's test) increase in the frequency of acute headache (90.9%) in comparison with the non-AF group (5.7%). The ratio between the presence and absence of acute headache was 166.6 times higher (IC 95% 18.2-1526.22) in subjects with bilateral AF in comparison with non-AF subjects.
Conclusions:
The presence of bilateral AF is associated to an increased frequency of acute headache after suffering a whiplash, information of interest for the attention to these patients.
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